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FileMaker Hacks

A blog by Kevin Frank in Affiliate Blogs

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Entries in this blog

JSON Object Destringification

Today we’re going to look at an issue that can crop up in FileMaker JSON processing, and explore some approaches one might take to address that issue. Typically this issue arises with preexisting JSON coming from an API, including, but not limited to, the FM Data and OData APIs. Demo Files DAPI-destringify-JSON-500.zip DAPI-destringify-JSON-10K.zip Note: minimum… Continue reading JSON Object DestringificationView the full article

November 2025 FM Training Livestream

Here are links to articles and resources related to today’s FM Training Livestream presentation: Best of FileMaker Hacks Tips, Tricks and Traps, part 3. YouTube link Best of FileMaker Hacks Tips, Tricks and Traps (part 3)   [coming soon] Demo Files 2025-Nov-Livestream.zip  [coming soon] FMH Articles SortValues and UniqueValues FM 22: Pseudo Indexing Sometimes Less Is… Continue reading November 2025 FM Training LivestreamView the full article

FM 22: Pseudo Indexing

Demo file: FM-22-Pseudo-Indexing.zip (works w/ FM 16 or later) When I wrote about Sort Values and Unique Values back in 2017, I made passing reference to an article I’d written a couple years previously on the topic of “pseudo indexing“, i.e., displaying a list of unique values for a specific field for a found set, rather… Continue reading FM 22: Pseudo IndexingView the full article

October 2025 Full Access Resource Page

Here are links to articles and resources related to presentations/discussions I will be participating in at the [Full Access] un-conference Oct 20-23, 2025. Virtual List Demo Files Coming soon Virtual List Articles Virtual List Simplified (for FM 21 and earlier) Virtual List Even More Simplified (for FM 22 and later) Long Documents in FileMaker 11… Continue reading October 2025 Full Access Resource PageView the full article

Virtual List Even More Simplified

Demo file: virtual-list-even-more-simplified.zip  [expects, but does not require, FM 22 or later] Note 1: The example in today’s article/demo is intentionally very basic. Note 2: The demo is self-populating to keep the data current, so the values you see in the screen shots may not exactly match those you encounter in the demo. As long… Continue reading Virtual List Even More SimplifiedView the full article

October 2025 FM Training Livestream

Here are links to articles and resources related to today’s FM Training Livestream presentation: Best of FileMaker Hacks Tips, Tricks and Traps, part 2 YouTube link coming soon Demo Files coming soon FMH Articles SortValues and UniqueValues ValuePosition: The Function FileMaker Forgot Sometimes Less Is More Reliable SetRecursion and While It’s Sorta a Value List… Continue reading October 2025 FM Training LivestreamView the full article

September 2025 FM Training Livestream

Here are links to articles and resources related to today’s FM Training Livestream presentation: Best of FileMaker Hacks Tips, Tricks and Traps YouTube link coming soon Demo Files coming soon Articles Replace + GetNthRecord to Fill Down Sometimes Less Is More Reliable When 2 is greater than 10 Layout Calculations in FileMaker 20.2 Layout Calculations… Continue reading September 2025 FM Training LivestreamView the full article

Kentuckiana FM Developers JSON Presentation

Here are links to articles and resources related to today’s KYFMP presentation on JSON custom functions and JSONQuery. YouTube links Jan 2025 FM Training Livestream: JSON Custom Functions Aug 2025 Kentuckiana FM Dev Group: JSON CFs and JSONQuery (coming soon) Demo Files coming soon JSON and JSON Custom Functions Thinking About JSON, part 1 (intro… Continue reading Kentuckiana FM Developers JSON PresentationView the full article

Another Tip for MBS “Check Variable Names”

This is a quick follow up to A Tip for MBS “Check Variable Names” from earlier this year. The other day I noticed variable name checking wasn’t working in one of my scripts. The culprit turned out to be MBS’s 500 line default step limit for variable name checking. According to the documentation, the limit… Continue reading Another Tip for MBS “Check Variable Names”View the full article

Boxed Summary Groups for Reports

Demo file:  boxed-summary-groups.zip Recently I needed to produce a summary report with variable height rows and each group enclosed in a rectangular box. To make the challenge more interesting, there were multiple fields in the body part, and it was not known in advance which would be tallest. At any rate, the approach I decided… Continue reading Boxed Summary Groups for ReportsView the full article

FileMaker Pro 22: Initial Impressions

Demo Files Minimum version to open the file shown in parentheses. GetRecordIDsFromFoundSet.zip  (FM 22) JSONParse Sandbox  (FM 22) JSON Array Virtual List Reporting  (FM 18) Josh Halpern’s Virtual List JSON Bench  (FM 21) Introduction It’s been a couple weeks since the release of FileMaker Pro 22 (a.k.a. 2025), and now that the dust is starting to… Continue reading FileMaker Pro 22: Initial ImpressionsView the full article

Magic Numeric Value List

The Challenge Demo Files magic numeric value list v1.zip magic numeric value list v2.zip Recently a challenge came up to use a dynamically-generated ascending sequence of numbers as the basis for a value list, and in a multi-user-safe manner. By dynamically-generated, I mean that the list of numbers would be calculated at runtime and would… Continue reading Magic Numeric Value ListView the full article

Closing Windows During Transactions

This article documents behavior in the current shipping version of the product, i.e., FM 21 (a.k.a. FM 2024). Demo file: transaction_test.zip (requires FM 21 or later) This is a follow-up to last month’s article on Modal Transactional Card Windows to address a very specific question. Given that transactions are scoped to a window, does a… Continue reading Closing Windows During TransactionsView the full article

Modal Transactional Card Window

Demo file: transactional-card-window.zip (requires FM 20 or newer) Resources Card windows — Windowing in FM 16: First Impressions Transactions — A Practical Guide to Transactions in FileMaker (ClickWorks) Introduction Recently a colleague and I were discussing ways one might go about having a card window be both modal and transactional. By default card windows are… Continue reading Modal Transactional Card WindowView the full article

JSON Optimization in FM 21

Introduction If you work with large JSON structures in FileMaker, you may be aware that the current shipping version of the product (FileMaker Pro 21, a.k.a. FileMaker Pro 2024) has a single-element JSON cache, which is reset whenever JSONSetElement or JSONGetElement is called, and that you can boost performance by taking this into account. Six… Continue reading JSON Optimization in FM 21View the full article

A Tip for MBS “Check Variable Names”

If you’re on MacOS, and use the Monkeybread (a.k.a. MBS) plug-in with “check variable names” enabled, you quickly come to appreciate how useful this feature, also known as linting, can be. For example I recently helped another developer track down a script problem that turned out to be a slight misspelling of a variable name,… Continue reading A Tip for MBS “Check Variable Names”View the full article

January 2025 FM Training Livestream

Here are links to articles, custom functions, etc., I may be referencing during my Wednesday, January 15th FM Training Livestream presentation. JSON and JSON Custom Functions Thinking About JSON, part 1 (intro – reading JSON) Thinking About JSON, part 2 (intro – writing JSON) Thinking About JSON, part 3 (miscellaneous observations) Thinking About JSON, part… Continue reading January 2025 FM Training LivestreamView the full article

JSONQuery Odds and Ends

This is a quick “odds ‘n’ ends” post to share the current iteration of my JSONQuery sandbox file. Some of the examples are new; some are from presentations I gave earlier this year. Most of them illustrate one or more things you can do with this amazing custom function (a few of the examples don’t… Continue reading JSONQuery Odds and EndsView the full article

JSONQuery v2 Conversation with Steve Senft-Herrera, part 2

Note 2: This conversation primarily focuses on new features and improvements in JQ v2. For a more general introduction to JSONQuery see the “Resources” section at the beginning of part 1. Continuation of JQ v2 conversation with Steve Senft-Herrera Kevin Frank: There are a couple little improvements in v2 we haven’t mentioned yet. Is this… Continue reading JSONQuery v2 Conversation with Steve Senft-Herrera, part 2View the full article

JSONQuery v2 Conversation with Steve Senft-Herrera, part 1

Background JSONQuery 2.0 was released last month with a wealth of new features, along with some improvements to existing features as well. Steve and I spoke about it recently, and we’ll get to that in just a moment. But first, for those who may not be familiar with JQ, here’s a bit of background information.… Continue reading JSONQuery v2 Conversation with Steve Senft-Herrera, part 1View the full article

JSONQuery 2.0 Is Here

This is a quick post to say that JSONQuery 2.0 is finally here with many new features, and some improvements to existing features as well. What is JSONQuery? A FileMaker custom function authored by Steve Senft-Herrera that enables you to query JSON. Basic Things JSONQuery Does 1) Query – Allows for finding elements that match… Continue reading JSONQuery 2.0 Is HereView the full article

Fast Summaries to JSON, part 2

This is a quick follow up to last week’s Fast Summaries to JSON and will assume the reader is familiar with that material. Demo Files Fast Summaries to JSON, v5 (requires FM 16 or later) Fast Summaries to JSON, v6 (requires FM 16 or later) After last week’s article appeared, a reader contacted me wondering… Continue reading Fast Summaries to JSON, part 2View the full article

Fast Summaries to JSON

The other day some colleagues were discussing a need to produce a JSON representation of the data in a summary report. Long time readers of this blog will know that I am obsessed with fond of the Fast Summary technique, and it seemed like it might be a good fit for this challenge, so I… Continue reading Fast Summaries to JSONView the full article

OnWindowTransaction JSON

Demo file:  on-window-transaction-json.zip Credentials:  admin / admin Minimum version:  20.2  [for both client and server] Note: This demo file is optimized for Perform Script on Server (PSOS), and is intended to be hosted on FileMaker Server or FileMaker Cloud. Introduction Recently a colleague mentioned that they were running into a performance issue trying to load… Continue reading OnWindowTransaction JSONView the full article

FastRange Custom Function

Recently I needed to produce a large range of consecutive numbers. FileMaker doesn’t provide a built-in function to accomplish this but it’s easy enough to accomplish, for example, using the While function or via a recursive custom function. In my case, I decided to go a different route based on a tip I’d seen someone… Continue reading FastRange Custom FunctionView the full article

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